Book trimmer or the like



Sept. 12, 1967 3,340,758

R. c. PETERSON ETAL BOOK TRIMMER OR THE LIKE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 9, 1965 INVENTORS fii/M/ c, PETEESOA/ V/c 7'0/5/4/1/0 f7 AMA/4 W 70/ 477 ENE/5 Sept. 12, 1967 R. c. PETERSON ETAL BOOK TRIMMER OR THE LIKE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 9, 1965 INVENTORS Afl/A/ c2, PETE/950M p 1967 R. c. PETERSON ETAL 3,340,758

BOOK TRIMMER OR THE LIKE 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Dec. '9, 1965 United States Patent BOOK TRIMMER OR THE LIKE Rehn C. Peterson, Westfield, N.J., and Victoriano F. Rana, Bethlehem, Pa., assignors to T. W. & C. B. Sheridan Co., New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York, a wholly owned subsidiary of Harris-Intertype Corp.,

Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation of Delaware Filed Dec. 9, 1965, Ser. No. 512,626

1 Claim. (Cl. 83697) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A book trimmer has a knife 'bar and a knife releasably clamped to this bar and slidably interconnected therewith so that the knife can be slid longitudinally from the knife bar while supported against falling. This bar has a bearing extension surface member between the knife and the end of the knife bar towards which the knife slides and which is also slidab'y connected with the knife bar so that it also can be slid longitudinally from the knife bar while supported against falling.

This invention relates to a book trimmer or the like kind of machine.

In particular, the invention is concerned with an improvement in the manner of mounting a knife on a generally horizontal knife bar having means for releasably clamping the knife thereto so that the knife may be removed for servicing and replaced thereafter or replaced by another knife in good condition.

An example of the above is shown and described in Sarring et a1. Patent 3,146,650, dated Sept. 1, 1964. FIGS. l6'and 17 of this patent show the described kind of knife bar and knife arrangement.

Heretofore, the means for releasably clamping the knife to the knife bar have comprised a series of cap screws or the like which when released permit the knife to fall, unless held manually. The knife must be lowered manually from the knife bar with its cutting edge of course lowermost so that the workmans fingers are between this edge and the lower fixed or stationary knife. Knife replacement requires some kind of operation excepting that the knife must be lifted to the knife bar and this operation is particularly diflicult because the screw holes in the knife must be registered with the screw passage holes in the knife bar to permit the use of the cap screws to clamp the knife to the knife bar. The knife is relatively heavy for manual handling, and the risk to the workman doing the job is serious.

With the foregoing in mind, one of the objects of the present invention is to improve on the above situation so that the workman can easily and safely remove and replace the knife of the described kind of machine. In addition, it is desired in particular to provide an improvement greatly reducing the time the machine is out of service due to knife removal and replacement. This last is important because such machines, and particularly the one of the previously mentioned Sarring et al. Patent 3,146,650, operated at high speed resulting in frequent knife dulling, and required frequent knife removal for sharpening of dulled cutting edges. When the machine is handling the more abrasive types of paper, this latter problem results in a serious loss of production.

A specific example of the present invention, as it has been incorporated in the front knife removably shown by FIGS. 16 and 17 of the Sarring et al. Patent 3,146,- 650, is illustrated by the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front view, partially sectioned, showing this front knife bar and knife with the present invention incorporated therewith;

3,34%,758 Patented Sept. 12, 1967 FIG. 2 is a side view of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross-section taken on the line 3-3 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a front view, partially sectioned, of the knife bar and knife as it appears when removed from its installed condition as it is shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the knife and a knife holder therefor which is a part of the present invention as it is incorporated by this illustrated example;

FIG. 6 is a cross-section taken on the line 6-6 in FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a cross-section taken on the line 77 in FIG. 4; and

FIG. 8 is an end view showing the gauging setup whereby the knife and its holder may be adjusted relative to each other for return to the knife bar in the case of a knife having a width reduced because of resharpening of its cutting edge.

In these drawings, FIG. 1 shows the top portion of FIG. 16 of the Sarring et al. Patent 3,146,650. The housing or framework 1 of the machine more or less encloses both the front and ends of the knife bar 2 and the knife 3 which may however be seen clearly by arms 4 so that it may swing arcuately down for cutting in cooperation with the lower fixed or stationary knife 5, the downward motion and return being effected by a depending connecting rod 6 which connects with the lefthand one of the arms 4. The knife bar and knife are tilted slightly but are substantially horizontal during the swing downwardly for cutting and upwardly for returning for clearance of the work.

The knife 3 is clamped to the knife bar 2 by cap screws 7 as in the case of the Sarring et al. Patent 3,146,650. Removal of these cap screws permits the knife 3 to fall downwardly and replacement of the knife would require registration of the knifes tapped holes 8 with the screw passage holes 9 in the knife bar before the cap screws 7 could be screwed into the holes 8 in the absence of the construction of the present invention.

However, according to the present invention, means are provided for slidably interconnecting the knife and knife bar so that when the cap screws 7 are removed the knife can he slid longitudinally from or onto the knife bar while supported by this means from falling. This requires that the righthand side of the framework 1 be formed with a doorway 10, closed by a door 11 and through which the knife may be slid from the knife bar.

In detail, the above means includes a track 12 which extends for substantially the length of the knife bar 2 and is connected therewith, together with a longitudinally extending passageway 13 formed for the length of the knife bar. Both the track 12 and passageway 13 extend from the lefthand end of the knife bar at a location where the knife itself terminates to and through the righthand end of the knife bar. The knife 3 has tapped holes 14 formed downwardly therein through its top edge so that by using screws 15 a means is provided for fastening the knifes top edge to a knife holder 16 which has downwardly extending holes 17 through which the screws 15 pass. Thus the knife 3 depends from the holder 16 in a removable manner.

The knife holder 16 has a width greater than that of the knife 3 to provide the overhanging portion in which a groove 18 is formed. The outside dimensions of the holder 16 are such as to form a sliding fit with the passageway 13, and the groove 18 is dimensioned to ride slidingly on the track 12 of the knife bar 2.

In the construction of the Sarring et al. Patent 3,146,- 650, the righthand end of the knife bar slides on a guideway in an arrangement flush with the vertical backside of the knife. This kind of arrangement prevents endwise or longitudinal motion of the knife relative to the knife bar.

In the present instance, the end of the knife bar towards which the knife slides for removal must be left open. However, a bearing extension surface member 19 is provided with a cross-sectional contour corresponding to that of at least the upper part of the knife 3 and its holder 16, these parts being correspondingly numbered therefore and identified by the small letter a. This member also correspondingly has tapped holes 8a, corresponding to the holes 8, and knife bar has screw passage holes so that cap screws 7a may be used to clamp the member 19 to the back of the knife bar. Thus the necessary extension of the guiding surface of the knife bar 2 is provided while permitting sliding removal of the knife 3 in its holder 16 by first sliding out the member 19 after removal of the screws 7a.

For convenience the righthand end of the holder 16 is formed with a longitudinally extending tapped hole 20 and the member 19 is formed with a corresponding tapped hole 20a. When the screws 7 and 7a are removed a tool in the form of a rod having a suitable threaded end may be screwed first in the hole 20a so that the member 19 may be slid through the doorway 10, and then the tool may be used by screwing its end in the hole 20 to slide out the knife 3 supportingly depending from its holder 16.

With each sharpening, the width of the knife 3 is reduced so that it must be clamped to the knife bar by the screws at progressively lower positions; for this reason the screw passage holes 9 are vertically elongated. Without the present invention the proper vertical positioning of the knife relative to the knife holder is difficult and to some extent dangerous.

In the case of the present invention the knife holder 16 is formed with vertical tapped holes 21 through which screws 22 are threaded, the bottom ends of these screws abutting the top edge of the knife 3, the latter being of course solid at these locations. By adjusting the screws 22 as required to space the cutting edge of the knife 3 from the knife holder 16 properly, the knife 3 is properly adjusted when the holder 16 is slidin'gly returned to the knife bar. No adjustment in the machine is then requircd.

Proper adjustment of the knife 3 relative to its holder 16 may be effected away from the book trimmer or other machine by using a gauge 23 as shown in FIG. 8. After sharpening, the knife 3 and its holder 16 are placed laterally in the appropriately spaced flanges of the gauge 23 and the screws 22, adjusted as required, after which the screws 15 are used for tightening.

The holes 17 are counterbored so that the heads of the screws 15 are below the top surface of the holder 16, and the screws 22 are headless so that they are below this surface. The screws 15 and 22 may be Allen screws and filed by the same size Allen wrench for convenience.

To provide clearance from the rest of the machine, the doorway is located to register with the knife and knife bar when the latter is in its fully up position. For convenience a limit switch 24 is shown which is actuated when the knife bar reaches its fully up position and which i may be wired into the control system of the machine to bring the knife bar to a stop in its fully up position when the knife must be removed.

When the knife is in its fully up position the screws 7 and 7a must be covered by parts of the front of the book trimmers framework 1. This condition is shown by FIG. 1 of the present drawings. Access to the screws 7 and 7a being in this instance provided by holes 25 properly formed in the frameworks covering .parts at locations registering with the screws when the knife bar is up.

Contrasting with the old dangerous and time consuming operations previously required, when the knife 3 dulls the workman brings the knife bar to its fully up position, removes the screws 7 and 7a without any risk of the knife falling, opens the door 11, inserts the threaded end of the tool in the hole 20a of the member 19, pulls out this member and, again using the tool in the same fashion but in the hole 20 pulls out the knife 3 and its holder 16. For speed a supply of knives and holders ready for service may be provided, in which case the workman, again using the tool, simply inserts the replacement knife 3 in holder 16, reinserts the member 19, inserts the screws 7 and 7a, the holes 8 and 8a being automatically registered, tightens up on the screws 7 and 7a and restarts the machine. No adjustment of the knife 3 relative to the knife holder is required because this can then be done outside of the machine by the use of the gauge 23.

What is claimed is:

A book trimmer or the like kind of machine including a knife, a generally horizontal knife bar having means for releasably clamping said knife thereto so that the knife may be removed for servicing, and means for slidably interconnecting said knife and said knife bar so that when said clamping means is released the knife can be slid longitudinally from the knife 'bar while supported thereby from falling; wherein the improvement comprises said knife bar having atone end a bearing extension surface member located between said knife and the end of this knife bar towards which the knife slides from the knife bar, means for releasably clamping said member to said knife bar, and means for slidably interconnecting said member and said knife bar so that when this members clamping means is released this member can be slid longitudinally from the knife 'bar while supported thereby from falling.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 596,530 1/1898 McCoy 83700 X 1,501,162 7/1924 Cumfer 83700 X 2,318,731 5/1943 Wood 83481 2,511,058 6/1950 Hambleton et al. 83--48l 2,939,357 6/1960 Haywood 83380 FOREIGN PATENTS 9,981 1890 Great Britain.

WILLIAM W. DYER, JR., Primary Examiner.

JAMES M. MEISTER, Assistant Examiner. 

